1992 Is A Bad Year For Old Pols Seeking To Be Re-elected

COMMENTARY

March 26, 1992|By JAMES J. KILPATRICK, Universal Press Syndicate

`I`m a whore,`` said Joe Kolter. The gentleman was talking to his campaign aides, giving them guidance for his re-election campaign.

``I have to be,`` he said. ``You heard of a whore? I`m a whore. I am a political whore. And I`m going to play it to the hilt. That`s what I`m gonna be doing. Shaking hands and kissing everybody. I mean I`m here to get elected.``

Joe Kolter, for the record, represents the 4th District of Pennsylvania. He was talking to Sam Siple and Chris Sainato. He made a tape recording to send privately to other campaign workers, but someone leaked the tape to Dennis Roddy of The Pittsburgh Press.

The tape is enchanting. It is refreshing. Kolter`s candor blows like a clean spring breeze through the halls of hypocrisy. I never met the guy, but I love him.

``I`ll be going to a lot of funeral homes. Just walk in - if I faintly remember who these people are - just walk in and shed a little tear and sign my name and take off.``

In his article, Roddy described the congressman as a ``beefy, rough-edged man for whom politics is not a matter of degrees.`` He is an old-fashioned Democratic pol. He began as a New Brighton city councilman in 1962, went to the Pennsylvania House in 1968, and moved to Congress in the elections of 1982. In 1990 he beat Republican Gordon Johnston with 56 percent of the vote.

Kolter was in trouble before the tape became public. He faces strong opposition in the April 28 primary from two challengers, Frank LaGrotta and Ron Klink. The former is an energetic state legislator, the latter a well- known television newsman. If he gets by them, he will run against Johnston again in November. In this heavily Democratic district, Johnston is not given much of a chance.

During the taped conversation, a question arose of Kolter`s record on missing roll-call votes. ``I don`t care how many votes I miss, I`m gonna be here meeting people.``

In this Year of Rude Surprises, the road to re-election already is littered with the bones of incumbents. It is a bad time for old pols.

Speaker Tom Foley`s abysmal handling of the Rubbergate check-kiting scandal has made bad matters worse. Foley first tried his damndest to cover up the whole affair. Then he let the Ethics Committee dribble out the names of the offenders piecemeal. Instead of a one-day or two-day story, the House now faces a three-week story that may drag on for months.

One ought never to overestimate the attention span of the American people. Eugene McCarthy, the philosopher poet, once fixed the span at one minute, 14 seconds. By November, the whole affair of the House Bank will be old news.

For all its sense of institutional outrage, the voting public tends to stand by a hometown member of Congress. My guess is that the carnage will not be as severe as it now appears.

Various defensive voices are crying that no laws were broken, no tax funds were abused. It was all the bank`s fault for keeping sloppy records. Slosh, slosh, slosh. Here comes the whitewash crew.

Those who would minimize the affair are missing the point. The Greeks had a word for it: hubris, defined as ``excessive pride or self-confidence; arrogance, insolence.``

Joe Kolter will go around to the funeral parlor and shed a tear for the dear departed, whatever his name was. Members of the House will bluster through the storm.

One small overdraft, or two or maybe three, may be forgiven. Here we see a pattern of regal condescension. It is the attitude of politicians who have come to think that ordinary rules don`t apply to them. They may have another think coming when the snows of November fall.